Holiday Smurflings
by EnchantedForestOne
Summary: Three new girls are "accidentally" introduced to the world of Smurfs, and are also warmly welcomed into the group of Smurflings. It seems, though, that it takes a whole year for these three to actually become welcome by a few of the grown ups.
1. Intro

This is for every holiday-Popular or not-that I celebrate. I almost decided to wait until New Year's, but I won't. The next chapter(Christmas!)will mostly introduce my three characters: Nikki, Faith, and Mercy, and tell mostly how they became members of the Smurfs village. I'll post each chapter on the day of the holiday unless something happens(or I forget!).

* * *

Snappy: Alright, hurry up already!

Me: Who let you in here?!

Nikki: I did...and if you don't stop jabbering about the story, it'll never get written!

Snappy: She's right.

Me: I'm in the mood for Smurfling stickers on my wall.*glares*

Faith: Uh, maybe you two should come with me...

* * *

Anywho-enjoy the stories! Oh, almost forgot-they're all oneshots.


	2. New Year's

Light laughter from the field by the village signaled a celebration of sorts, mainly in points of the three new members-three girls-of the village.

"See?" Nikki, a former brunette with deep green eyes said, hiccupping. "Human celebrations are a lot like your own." She _hic_ ed again, sitting down hard on a log.

"I think that's enough root beer, Nikki." Faith suggested, her own wiry red hair covering the misplaced tricolored eye on her left.

"Nah. One more glass. The point is to get like this." _Hic!_

"I'm bigfoot!" Snappy lumbered into the clearing, bare feet much larger than his companions'.

"I can-_hic_-see that." Nikki pointed out, blinking several times.

"Oh-kay. We've got a Smurfling high on root beer! Party over, Nik." Mercy attempted to pull her friend back off the ground, but gave up as soon as she started.

"Ah, let her have fun. This thing's for you girls." Nat begged, then pointed out that there were still announcements.

* * *

Almost moments after Nat had said this, there _was_ an announcement.

"For the entire year-under our new girls' watchful eyes-we will be celebrating the Human holidays."

Poet stood up, and Nikki groans, mumbling under her breath something about bad literature.

"Alright." Faith snarled. "Smurf survival rule number one: NO ROOT BEER." Nikki bared her teeth at her, then walked away.

"I thought this was supposed to be light play, not rules, rules, rules." Nat pouted, slumping over and yawning.

"Ahem," Mercy shoved them both in the arm, pointing towards the front.

"… therefore, we adopt today the human's way to celebrate the year."

"You missed it." Mercy said. "If you guys hadn't been fighting over whether or not Nikki was high, youd've heard a pretty good poem. Get over it!" Before any of them could bite back a response, Puppy began to howl in an almost harmonious tone, followed by a voice.

"What the-?!" Snappy looked around, and Nat and Slouchy shrugged simultaneously, both of them pointing to the dogs.

"Holy Smurf." Faith breathed. "It's Nikki!"

"I never knew she could sing." The three girls glanced at each other, then grinned.

"_I have got so much to give. I swear I do. I may not have nine lives-_" The other girls nodded at each other, singing along.

"_-But this one feels brand new! Yes I've lived a good one, I have tried to be true_."

Nikki leaped off of Puppy's back, landing next to her friends.

"_There are some things I never realized-'til I met you._"

* * *

ME: Okay, I swear I'm never putting myself up to something like this again. I know, I know, I was **_WAY_** late in getting New Years, Groundhog day is going to be ignored, and I broke my promise about Christmas. _**NOT **_happening again.

SNAPPY: Yeah, right.

ME: Shut. Up.


	3. Martin Luther King

I know. I'm late again. I promise, Valentine's day will be on schedule, though.

* * *

Nat woke up to two loud voices that seemed almost directly outside. The others were already sitting up, confused and tired, staring at each other.

"Faith, what are they doing?" He asked, noticing that three of the girls weren't there.

"I dunno," Faith mumbled, rubbing her eyes and yawning. "Souds like a speesh."

"A speech?!" Snappy leaped down from his bunk, Nikki's stuffed cat coming down with him.

"Whaddaya mean, a speech?" Slouchy stared at the redhead for a moment, not blinking until she gave eye contact.

"What's da date say?" She seemed to still be asleep, muttering like a toddler.

"Uh-It's Monday." Snappy tossed Nikki's cat back up to the bed, then pointed to the calendar. "The third Monday in January."

"Martin Luther King day," Faith replied. "The day claimed as the recital of the famous I Had a Dream speech." The four of them manage to get outside to see-as Nat had suspected-Mercy, Nikki, and Sassette attempting to get the other Smurfs' attention.

"Nikki looks like a G'nap." Nat observed.

"What the smurf are they doing?" Faith mutters.

"What's that silly girlfriend of yours doing up there, Slouch?" Snappy demanded. Slouchy glared at him.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." He snarled under his breath.

"Boys," Faith scolded, locking her jaw. "You know, I think they're trying to reenact or something."

"Re-in-what?!" Nat gave her a dumb look, completely confused.

"Well, for this it's usually a guy, but it's when you act out something that happened in the past to try and get others to remember it." Faith tried to explain.

"Oh."

"Hey!" Snappy's eyes lit up, and he whispered something into Faith's ear. She nodded, then grinned.

"What? What is it?" Nat begs. The short-tempered Smurfling darted off before Faith could reply, tackling Nikki from behind.

"Yipe!" Nikki squeaked, rolling over to grapple his neck in attempt of self-defense.

"ATTACK!" Faith leaped at them, the three of them tumbling around for a moment. Nat and Slouchy glanced at each other, then shrugged, jumping into the pile. Eventually, all seven of them were rolling around on the ground, laughing and play-fighting.

* * *

So, I got bored. I hope I manage to get something more creative written down in the future.


	4. Valentine's Day

Nikki snarled, pulling at her sleeve. "I feel like a girly-girl!" She complained, glaring at Tailor.

"Well, I-"

"And it's too plain!" She snapped, cutting him off. "Plain old, everyday average dress with no color whatsoever."

Tailor snorted. "And I'd like to see _you_ do better." He replied, crossing his arms.

"Then I will."

Within the next five minutes, Nikki's "average dress" had been turned into a floor length, black-and-yellow ballgown. Tailor stared at her, partly shocked from the fact that she had done anything at all with the outfit, and partly from the new look the dress gave her.

"You don't even look like a Smurfling anymore!"

"Was that a compliment, or should I yell at you?" Nikki replied, green eyes gleaming.

"Well-" Tailor stammered. "-I mean-you-It's jaw Smurfing to see a dress like that…"

"Then I'll take that as a compliment."

When Nikki got back to the bunkhouse, she was greeted with a startled gasp. The other six stopped what they were doing immediately, and she smiled a bit, suddenly feeling shy from all the stares.

"Where's Nikki, and what in _Smurf_ have you done to her?" Snappy demanded.

"Yeah." Slouchy added. "You never wear a dress!"

"It's only for tonight," Nikki replied, blushing deeply.

"Well, I think you look beautiful." Sassette said.

"Yep." Nat cuts in. "If you smurf your hair up, you'll look like a new Smurfette."

About halfway through the dance, Nikki had disappeared after being literally jerked back and forth between the Smurfling boys, who all wanted to dance a bit with each girl. Three boys, four girls. Not a fun mix for her. But she endured for a little while, then ran off.

"I hate dresses." She muttered as she snuck back into the room. Instead of going for the punch and dances, she headed straight for the stereo. She had a little secret for her friends.

"Got it?" DJ whispered, reaching to pull his headphones off. Nikki nodded, pulling a disc out of her pocket and spinning it around on one finger.

"Always. I hope Mercy remembers this one."

"Well, you're in the spotlight, kid." DJ stepped away, handing her the phones, and she put the disc in the player. The music began almost immediately, but it was the wrong track. Nikki frantically pressed a couple of buttons before DJ lent her a hand, and she smiled a thanks to him.

"Hey! That's my song." Mercy stopped dead still, as did the others, and glanced over at the DJ station.

"If you're wondering where your dance partner went, she's over there, Snappy." All of them glanced at the redhead, who looked right at home behind the speakers. Mercy loved this song.

"Where ya goin'?" Sassette said, startling Mercy. Slouchy was trying to sneak out the door behind them.

"Uh-I-erm-I-that is-" He stammered, blushing. "I need to go-uh-get something." He rushed out without another word.

The dance continued, with more "sophisticated" music-which were Faith's exact words. Mercy kept glancing at the door, hoping Slouchy would come back. When he did, he quickly hid his hands behind his back after closing the door quietly.

"What'd ya take so long for?" Mercy asked. He was still blushing as he walked up to her, and mumbled something under his breath.

"What?" She asked, then gasped when he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. She stared at him. He did it again, a gesture of "Let's be more than just friends." Mercy was dazed for a moment, but then squealed, giggling a bit, and threw her arms around his neck. Faith rolled her eyes, and Snappy and Sassette shared a "Yuck!" look, sticking out their tongues.

"I said 'Be my Valentine'." Slouchy revealed a large handful of red-and-violet roses, which Mercy at first rejected with a harsh, loud sneeze, but then accepted them. Everyone-even Nikki-was laughing at her, Slouchy trying not to. Mercy eventually began to laugh along with them.


	5. Pi Day

"Smurflings! It's time to go to bed." Papa called. Nikki groaned. If there was one thing she hated, it was night. Snappy grumbles in agreement, and the others immediately start to complain.

"It could be worse." Faith said, and Nat gave her a look.

"How?"

"It could be Daylight Savings Time. I hate it when that happens." Faith, Nikki, and Mercy-Faith's older sister-had been humans at one time, and Papa Smurf had allowed them to feel more at home by making one whole year have human holidays. It was March, four months after they had arrived on Christmas Eve. Faith thought of Daylight Savings Time as a holiday-and not a good one.

"True. Spring Forward in Spring-" Mercy started. Nikki clapped a hand over the brown-haired Smurfling's mouth, cutting her sentence off.

"Fall backwards in Fall." She finished, and Mercy glared at her.

"At midnight one night this month, the clocks will all have to be set forwards one hour. That'll make one whole day only twenty-three hours instead of twenty-four." Faith added.

"Weird." Slouchy muttered, yawning.

"Then we'd have to get up an hour early, too. Before the sun even gets up." Nikki told him, warding off a charging Snappy with one hand. He tumbled over backwards, unaffected.

"Then how come ya do it anyways? It don't make sense." He-well-snapped.

"If I start, you'll call me Brainy's daughter." Mercy said, and Nikki nodded in agreement, grabbing Snappy's arms and flipping him over as he charged again from behind.

"Would you two stop pretending to be warriors?!" Faith begged. "Smurf survival rule number eighty-five: No more warrior cats books for Nikki."

"When you stop restricting me from stuff, we'll stop Smurfing around!" Nikki growled, facing the other redhead angrily.

"Is that a challenge?" Faith replied, slashing a metal fist through the air in front of her. Before the others could do anything, a girl fight broke out, and the two wouldn't stop for anything.

"Nikki! Cut it out!" Snappy tried to pull the girls apart, but only got the response of a slash on the shoulder. The others pleaded with Faith and Nikki, no one else daring to interfere physically.

"SMURFLINGS!" A shout stopped everyone in their tracks, even the two redheads-who were pulling each other's hair now.

"What is this?!" Hefty was standing behind them, and Faith nearly fainted when she realized her father was there.

"Uh-" Her eye flickered, revealing the cat like features in it, and she released Nikki's hair.

"A fight?" He said, lifting her off of the ground. Nikki's left eye was welled up, a black, fisht-shaped indention pressed around it. Hefty glared at the girls for another moment before helping Nikki up and looking her in the eye. She wasn't hurt, but definitely mad. She didn't even seem to notice that she'd gotten a black eye from the tussle.

"What got you two Smurfed at each other, and who started it?!" He demanded. Faith's usually clay-dusted blue face was even more red than ever.

"I started talking rules again, and Nikki got upset. I took it as a challenge." She shoved the strap of her overalls back up, hoping he wouldn't be too upset at her.

"It's my fault." Snappy admitted, explaining about the books that they'd been reading.

"You two were playing around, and Faith got onto you?" Hefty laughed a bit. "That's a new Smurf of courage." He started to turn away, motioning for Faith to follow him, but then stopped himself.

"How 'bout the seven of you come over to my house for a sleepover?" He suggested finally. The Smurflings brightened up, following Hefty.

"But I'm not rewarding you two for that fight." He turned to Faith and Nikki, who both gave him a pitiful look. "Just at how tough you two looked." He then said, only loud enough for the two girls to hear.

The next morning, really early, there was a clanking sound and a couple of muffled grunts that woke Snappy up.

"What's the racket?" He asked, recognizing Nikki's silhouette by the window. She glanced up from what she was doing-whatever it was-and beamed her eyes in his direction. She had the ability to use her eyes as lasers, or just a harmless light, whenever she wanted or needed to.

"Sorry. Hefty's clock was smurfing an hour slow." She said quickly, shutting her eyes off and shuffling back to her sleeping bag.

"What time is it, anyways?" Snappy asked, yawning.

"Four o'clock. We've got another two hours of sleep b'fore Hefty starts his routine." Nikki rolled over to face away from him, falling asleep almost instantly. They were just close enough to each other for him to reach out and fondle with her hair, wondering why she hated it so much.

Two hours. The others had a rude awakening from the alarm, and they ended up stumbling over one another getting up. Hefty glanced out the window.

"Huh. The sun should be rising." He said, turning to stare at the kids.

"Well-maybe you should check your clock." Nikki suggested, laughing a bit.

"Nikki." Snappy's eyes widened. "What did you set it to?"

"An hour ahead. Today _is_ daylight savings time. And national Pi day." She replied, her face reddening.

"Pie? Does Greedy know that?!" Hefty demanded. Nikki chuckled.

"No, Uncle Hefty! _Pi_. It's the unending digit of the circumference of a circle."

"Circo-_what_?! You lost me, buddy." Faith muttered groggily.

"Oh forget it. 3.1415926 blah blah blah. Papa could tell you." Mercy told her sister. The eight of them finally managed to get outside, where Nikki explained that her family used to throw _real_ pies at each other for tradition. After about an hour of chattering, Mercy had managed to memorize a few digits of the number, and so had the others. Sassette kept getting mad at herself when she messed up, but eventually ended up getting a creampie in her face after she'd gotten about fifteen digits correct. When she looked up from her scribbles in the dirt, she saw that every Smurf in the area had pie residue on them.

A pie flew past her, and she gasped at the familiar grunt behind her. Papa Smurf was standing there, face covered in Smurfberries and Cream. He looked angry.

"She hit Papa Smurf." Someone said. Then someone else: "She hit Papa!" Everyone was eyeing the two yellow-topped Smurflings in the middle of the clearing, and Nikki's shoulders stiffened as Papa came closer to her.

"What was this about?" He demanded, not shouting, but loud enough for all of the Smurfs in the clearing to hear.

"This is why you should have never let those three do as they wanted, Papa Smurf. As I always say…" Brainy started in, and Papa gave him the evil eye. Snappy still had a pie in his hand, and he glanced down at it, then threw it right in Brainy's face, shutting him up pretty quickly.

"Happy Pi day?" Nikki whispered, glancing down at the ground.

"Pie day?" Papa gave her a quizzical look.

"Pi. It's a number, Pappy." Sassette said quickly, standing up for the two.

"How is that?" He asked the redhead, and Sassette's blue eyes flashed.

"3.1415926353897932384626433837169399375." She recited flawlessly in response. A few of them stared at her, but Nikki started to grin, then chuckle.

"Well, then. And I thought you'd only gotten fifteen. It doesn't end, and there are over three trillion known digits to humankind-that's over a hundred years of reciting just numbers nonstop!" Nikki was suddenly a fact file, not quiet even when Brainy gave her a confused look.

"Did you know that the first three digits written backwards even looks like the word pie? The first human to memorize over 67 thousand digits of Pi within twenty-four hours and four minutes was a man named Lu Chao, aged 25." She finally ran out of facts, and just stood there.

"Hm…" Papa wiped the pie off his face, considering all of the things she had just said.

"And the tossing pies is kind of a family tradition." Nikki added, exhausted from all the talking.

"Wow." Brainy had fainted after his exclamation, shocked that anyone could say so much true information without a book.

"You're no older than Sassette, and you know twice as much as the other Smurflings." Papa admitted.

Nikki scoffed; she never believed anyone that called her smart. "Naw."

"Yes, you are." Snappy grunted, glaring at his friend.

"If I start thinking I'm smarter, I'll end up just like Brainy." She hissed.

"Yeah, fainting over a bit of information you _didn't_ know!" A scowl crossed Nikki's face at Snappy's remark, and he realized too late that it wasn't the best joke for the moment.

"Well, at least she won't have to get used to this." He muttered after a hard landing about three yards from the edge of the village.


	6. St Patrick

"Yeowch!" Faith jumped awake at Nat's outburst, flinching as her head hit the bunk.

"Wha-? Mercy!" Her mop-headed sister was standing over them, grinning.

"Did you forget what today was, sis? You're not wearing green!" Mercy said. She had on a green scarf over her usual outfit, the purple top and jeans.

"Uh-Wake Everysmurf up Day?" Faith suggests. Mercy laughed, pinching her little sister's arm-hard! Faith squeaked, pulling her arm back and losing her balance.

"Oof! St. Patrick's Day!" Nat exclaimed, grunting as Faith fell over onto his back.

"Uh-huh. And whoever doesn't have green on gets pinched." Mercy hummed.

"And since it's Smurfs we're talking about, how 'bout the tails?" Nikki came in, darting under Snappy's bunk. She had her usual outfit, but no green.

"Okay. Come on out, then." Nat told her.

"Uh-uh!" Nikki whimpered, shuffling farther under the bed. "Snappy's tryin' to get me!"

"Are you wearing green?" Mercy asked. Nikki shook her head furiously, her eyes glowing like fireflies from all the panicking she was doing.

"No, but I don't have to!"

"Why not?" Mercy put her hand on her hip.

"Eyes."

"Where is she, where is she?!" Snappy poked his head in the window, whipping his gaze from one end of the bunkhouse to the other. He had a green hat instead of the more traditional one.

"Uh-she's not here." Nikki did her best to copy Nat's voice, and if the brown-eyed Smurfling hadn't jumped in surprise, Snappy would have fallen for it.

"I'll getcha, Nikki!" Snappy promised, disappearing from the window.

Later, practically half of the village was mad at the Smurflings, and the other half was green. Only Nikki was a Smurf to stare at. No Smurf dared pinch her, let alone the other Smurflings. They knew better, all of them but Snappy. He once attempted to sneak up on her, ending up with a red nose and violet-pink cheeks later on.

"It's not fair! She's the only Smurf in the entire village-besides Papa-not wearing green, and no one will pinch her!" He stormed, going on and on with some very harsh language. Faith covered her ears, and Nat huddled in the corner behind her. Mercy and Slouchy weren't very happy with his jabbering, either, and they managed to tie him to the bedpost until he shut up.

"Hey, hey! Okay. You can untie me, now. Mercy? Slouchy? Nat? Sassette?" Snappy struggles a bit, grumbling under his breath. "Faith!" They had left.

A giggle caught his attention as he was chewing at the cloth. He looked up to see Nikki, dark eyes gleaming with amusement. "Looks like you got abducted." The redhead chuckles.

"Can ya get me out? I won't pinch you." Snappy begged.

"I don't trust you." Nikki sharpened her nails on the windowsill, admiring them as Snappy wriggled around some more.

"I-need to go to the bathroom," He lied. Nikki snorted.

"How bad?" She asked. He gave her the most pitiful look he could muster, and she just rolled her eyes.

"Fine. I'll untie you from here." She blinked three times, the last time so slowly he thought she'd never open them again, and a green light shot from in her direction, singing the wraps off of him and onto the floor. He stood up in shock, staring at her for a second.

"Thanks," He stammered, barely able to keep himself from fainting. She _had_ to be magic! Or maybe just a miracle. She'd saved his life three times already since he'd found her at Gargamel's as the human worker he'd met her as, and now she had some sort of fire power?

About an hour after that, he managed to get only an inch from her before she sensed him. Her hand lashed out, and she caught him before he could pinch her tail.

"Look at me, and tell me what color my eyes are." She demanded, not releasing his hand from her _very_ tight grip.

"Green, duh. Your eyes were always green." He replied, squirming.

"Now tell me what color I should be wearing for today."

"Green," He mumbled, feeling his face grow hot again.

"I'm not Irish, but the family tradition was that I-the only green-eye of the entire clan-didn't have to wear green. Why?"

"'Cause your eyes are green?" He guessed.

"Smurfzactly." Nikki let go of his hand. "_Now_ do you know why no one would pinch me?" Nodding, he mumbled some sort of apology. Something she had said caught his attention, though.

"You're startin' to talk like us." He said. Then suddenly added: "If you're not Irish, then what are you?"

"Scottish. Haven't you ever noticed that tiny Smurfish touch to my voice?" Nikki replied. Now that she mentioned it, she did kind of sound a bit like Gutsy.

"Snappy?" She suddenly turned to stare at him for a second, eyes gleaming.

"What?" He asked, staring at the sudden white flakes in her black-and-red hair. How'd that get there?

Nikki was grinning from ear to ear, tongue stuck slightly out of her mouth just enough that her sharp-tooth was poking out on the left side. "Look up."

"Huh?" When he did, a flurry of white greeted him in a chilly skydrop. It was snowing! Nikki began to laugh, jumping around. Snappy suddenly realized it had been snowing almost the whole time they were there. He tripped over something, and Nikki caught him, sliding around a bit on the white surface of the ground. Then she fell, still holding on to him.

They ended up grabbing each other's arms, almost nose to nose, to avoid falling.

Nikki's bangs were in her eyes, and Snappy managed to push them back for her without letting go.

Someone ripped past on a sled, shoving them right into each other, and Snappy heard Nikki's breath catch as their lips came in contact.

He jerked back, or at least wished he had. Instead, he found himself leaning into the kiss-and realized that Nikki was, too. Had he lost it?! Standing there in the middle of the village square, kissing another Smurfling. He hated that kind of stuff, but here he was, way too young to have a girlfriend, locking lips with a girl exactly ten years younger than him. It didn't feel at all bad. Actually, it felt good, comfortable. And, as Nikki later admitted, warm and welcoming in the middle of a snowstorm.

"You know it's good luck?" She said when they'd gotten into the bunkhouse. Almost ten of the adults had seen them. She didn't care.

"What is?" Snappy asked. "Snow in March?"

"For a Smurf wearing green to kiss a Smurfette younger than him if it snows on St. Patrick's day." She replied, taking his hand as he walked up to her.

"Really? Then I must be the luckiest Smurf on Earth. I got snow and a beautiful green-smurfed Scottie." Nikki blushed, smiling shyly. _Dang, did she look Smurfy when she did that._

"I'm not that pretty," She admitted. "Just a bit attractive."

"No, you're not that pretty. You're more." Snappy didn't hold his tongue. "More beautiful than all of the other three put together."

Nikki glanced down at her hand, suddenly conscious about having reached for his. Her entire being turned pink, and before she realized what she was doing, she had turned right to him and kissed him again. _Holy Smurf, Sassette's gonna kill me,_ she thought, sensing the others enter at that moment. She really didn't care. Not even the slightest bit.

* * *

_Yeah...felt like a bit of romance. Got bored while playing around on a game, decided o work on this one early-I was up half the night with it, too!_

_NIKKI: Well, geez! you could've used one of the others. Even if that _was _a pretty good kiss.*looks over with a soft smile at Snappy, who sinks down in his seat*_

_SNAPPY: Heck, it's why you're my Smurffriend, right?_

_ME: Duh. You two belong together._


	7. Spring Break

"Gooal!" The shout from the woods echoed all the way back to the village, where Nikki was grumbling and snarling as she worked on the laundry.

"Lucky Smurflings." She snarled again. Smurfette sighed.

"Nikki, it's not like you're getting punished." The blonde said.

"Huh! Papa saw me knock Brainy with that Soccerball. I bet Sassette would be here helping you if he hadn't." Nikki replied, huffing as she dragged the heavy basket to the line.

"You hit Brainy?" Papa's voice startled her so much that she dropped the sheet she had been hanging.

Nikki's face turned red. "You didn't see that?" She mumbled.

"No." Papa Smurf poked his head around the laundry hanging beside Nikki,

"It _was_ an accident."

"Hm. Well, I was going to take over for you so you could play with the other Smurflings."

"Oh, Papa Smurf. She deserves it. She's been very helpful." Smurfette replied.

"Oh, all right. You go on, Nikki." Without a second response, Nikki gathered up the sheet she had dropped and sprinted off towards the sounds of playful shouting in the forest.

Snappy and Slouchy were fighting over the ball when she got there, and she dodged them both to grapple the Soccerball with her left foot. _**BOP!**_

"Gooal!" Brainy shouted, not even noticing Nikki in the field.

"Ball hog." Mercy muttered as Nikki passed up the two other girls on the playing field and pulled yet another good stunt. Four goals in two minutes, and the kids' team had won.

"Wow. Didn't know you were even here 'till that last one." Snappy told her, panting as he ran up to her.

"I didn't know Vexy played," Nikki pointed out. The brunette was giving her a steel cold look.

"Of course I play!" She snapped. "Smurfing others in the head, diving to stop a shot on goal, being aggressive as smurf and getting away with it…and sudden death? I love this game!"

"I wouldn't exactly say death." Faith, who was sitting next to Brainy on the ground, called out. "More like 'near death'!" She was right, too. Three of the grownups had been knocked off the field by Nikki's playing, each with a concussion or grass burn.

"That was a lucky game shot, anyways. I bet if you went a whole week of a full game through you'd lose." Vexy said to Nikki.

"Is that a challenge?" Nikki asked, grinning so widely that her extra tooth-on the left side of her mouth-was visible just by the tip.

"Yep."

Later, the two had gathered up an equal amount of team members-eight Smurflings versus eight adults-and were on the field waiting. Mercy and Hefty exchanged a few words before the game, and Vexy cut in, swapping them. It was now seven Smurflings and a grownup versus seven grownups and a Smurfling. Nikki observed that Slouchy seemed determined to avoid the ball at all costs now, and Snappy had no intentions on letting the other team get it. Poor little Sorcerer kept tripping over his shoes, and Nikki had to take over for him, telling him to bench for the first half of the game.

"C'mon! You're not gonna let a bunch of Smurfs scare you, are you?" Hefty demanded. The score was four to six. They were getting beaten.

"Not on my watch!" Nikki was on Vanity in a split second, stealing the ball and dodging every grownup there was on the field. _**BOP!**_ Once, twice, three times she nearly popped the ball with her foot-and each time it went in.

"You're cheating!" Tailor shouted.

"I hate cheaters." Grouchy-well-grouched.

"A player isn't a cheater if a cheater doesn't win!" Nikki called in response. The score had changed to seven to six, and Vanity and Handy were benched. The game was going too quickly, and Nikki soon lost controls over her team.

"Gooal!" That wasn't the word she wanted to hear. Vexy had punted the Soccerball right into the goal, and the game was over with twenty-five to thirty. The Smurflings-for that day-had lost.

Later, in the Bunkhouse, Nikki was pacing the floor, barefooted, and grumbling over the day's lost game. She was also snarling about her arm hurting from jerking Sorcerer out of the way.

"We've got a whole 'nother six days, Nikki. We can Smurf 'em." Snappy assured her, trying to sound confident. Nikki tumbled into her bunk, sighed, and sat back up.

"It's not like Slouchy's trying to help. All he does is mope around like he's hurt." She complained. "I think he's trying to let the others win b'cause Mercy switched places with her father."

"I am not!" Slouchy called indignantly from behind the screen. "I may smurf anything for her any other day, but if she's on the other team, I'll smurf like I never met her."

"Even if you share a bunk with her?" There were only four beds in the Bunkhouse, which meant all four of the Smurfling boys had to share their bunks with one of the girls.

"You won't have to worry with him doing that." Mercy slipped into the Bunkhouse. She had a Soccerball in one hand.

"What do you mean? You're on the other team!" Nikki almost yelled.

"Not anymore. Nat and I are switching. We talked it over with Vexy," Mercy replied coolly. "She explained that with three Smurfs on the other side that were close to me, there was no fighting chance for you guys. She'll give you that, but she won't let you win. But Nat told me that he'd be a spy for us if we wanted."

"Spying isn't really a Smurfy thing to do…" Nikki started. "…but if he wants to…"

Two days later, thanks to the switch, the Smurflings' team was in the lead. The fourth day, though, they were all too tired to play, costing another day for the game.

The last day, however, held a bit of a surprise for the teams.

"Look. We have to do something that won't smurf us into the ditch. Don't use up all your energy for the first half of the game. Go easy, and everything will Smurf into place." Nikki told her team. Even Hefty understood what she meant: no roughhousing until the last quarter.

"Game on?" She asked.

"Game on." The others replied, one at a time.

After the first quarter of the game, Mercy and Slouchy-along with Vanity, Handy, Tailor, and Grouchy from the other team-were benched. Nikki was practically bowling through Vexy's team, and the only four left standing were scared out of their shoes-she could sense it. Only Vexy had the same determined look on her face that Nikki felt set on her own. She and Snappy kept the ball between them, and soon Gutsy and Greedy had a head-on collision and it was just Vexy and Nat against Nikki, Snappy, Sorcerer, Sassette, and Faith and her father.

"Slouchy, back on the field! Handy, Tailor, you two get out there." Brainy demanded to the benched Smurfs. Mercy kissed Slouchy on the cheek and whispered something in his ear before he sprinted up to the team line.

"I thought you said _easy_!" He told Nikki.

"That _was_ my easy. What'd she tell you?" Nikki pointed to the mop-headed Smurfling. Mercy had her eyes on the Soccerball, ready to be called in to play.

"She said 'go get 'em, Lucky Number Seven.'" Slouchy replied. "Why do you care?"

"Nothing." Nikki said politely. Then to herself, she muttered: "Lovesick slushpuppies."

In the final quarter of the game, it was just Nikki and Snappy-the most determined Smurflings on the team-versus Vexy, Handy, and Gutsy.

"D'oh! Listen, we've gotta get those three points!" She hissed as Snappy pelted past her with the ball.

"Sorcerer! Back in there." For once, Nikki was relieved that Brainy was the referee. He actually understood the circumstances that the Smurflings' team was in.

"Two minutes, three points." Nikki muttered to herself. Snappy was blocked, and she determinedly pulled the Soccerball out of the possession of the other three. Wobbling, she kicked it slowly backwards until the others were far enough away. They were so confused that the four stood there staring.

"Nice move, Vex." Nikki got behind the ball and kicked it with such force that the benched Smurfs had to cover their ears. _**PUNT!**_ Handy realized what was going on and leaped after the ball-just as it went into the goal.

"Gooal! Double-point for improper blockage!" Vexy gasped, then gave Nikki a practically evil look. Back to his senses, Sorcerer knocked the ball from Gutsy's feet, knocking it to Snappy, who acted like he was going to send it through the left of the goal. Instead, he popped it to the right, and Brainy blew the whistle, signaling that the game was over.

Nikki had a victorious look on her face when they got back to their room-she'd done it. She had beaten the other team!

"Hey, Lassie." Gutsy came up to her, hat sideways. "I-uh want'd t congratulate ye oan the game. Looked like ye were dancin' 'cross the field."

"It's a Scottie thing. So did you." Nikki replied, reaching up to tilt his hat back into place. She hadn't noticed before that he had green eyes.

"Well. I wondered if ye maybe wanted some Jig lessons. I've got a bagpipe." He said. Nikki brightened up.

"A real one? Never really seen one."

"A Scottie isn't a Scottie without a jig and some bagpiping."

"I'll start next week. I'm a little tired. Good job on those two winning games, by the way."


	8. April Fools'

"Really funny. Really funny, boys." Mercy hissed at the four Smurfling boys that were laughing at her.

"Sorry, Mercy, but you look just great in pink." Snappy replied. Sorcerer had dyed Mercy's jeans and hat a bright pink and shrunk the jeans so that they were only knee length. She had already tricked two of the boys, but swore that she'd get them back. Especially Slouchy.

"I'll get you." She promised.

Later, she had no time to trick anybody-Papa Smurf had asked for her to watch something for him. Slouchy moped past, and it gave her an idea.

"Hey, C'mere." She called. He slipped in the door, and she told him to watch the mixture. Pretending to look for a book, she thought on how she could get him to get the others back for her. True, he'd do anything for her-just not on April Fools' Day.

"What's this for?" Slouchy had left his post, and was tapping at a tiny furry thing on the bench. It squeaked, lifting its head.

"Lil' Squeaky!" Mercy squealed, then started to laugh. "Whaddya doin' in here?"

"I knew it was her." Slouchy mumbled, embarrassed. The book that Mercy had put back on the shelf fell as they were petting the little mouse, and Mercy noticed suddenly that the bottle on the end of the shelf was about to topple off. Without a word, she picked the mouse up and bolted for the door. It looked explosive! Slouchy followed, but Mercy realized that he wasn't right behind her when she got out.

"Ow!" The sound of cracking glass, then the explosion. Five or six Smurfs-one Mercy couldn't recognize, came running towards the sound. Mercy handed Squeaky over to Smurfette, then braved the smoke to look for her friend.

"Thank Smurf there's no flames." She muttered. "Slouchy?" Mercy stopped suddenly, a red wad catching her attention. His shirt?

"Methi?" Slouchy was there-but his hat was covering one of his eyes and the usually short sleeves of his t-shirt practically swallowed his arms.

"Now what the Smurf happened to you?!" She plucked him up, holding him the way she had Squeaky. In the least, he was no bigger than the mouse.

"Methi!" Mercy groaned.

"Don't tell me-" She hurried back out of the lab and demanded that someone find Papa. Squeaky gave a muffled, worried sounding squeal, and Smurfette gasped.

"This is a joke." Jokey said. _Strong words for a not very practical guy,_ Mercy thought, giving him a glare.

"It's not a joke, is it?" She shoved past him, ignoring his last remark, and bumped right into her sister. Faith was with Papa, who gave one glance at Slouchy and started in on Mercy.

"I didn't do anything!" She said before he could scold her. "A book fell off the shelf-and it knocked some sort of powder off! I'm not kidding-honest."

"Nu." Slouchy agreed, probably just making noises, but still giving a pretty convinced face.

"It wasn't powder…" Papa started "…It was water from the Fountain of Youth! I had saved some of it hoping to be able to get a reverse spell _without_ my book."

Mercy glanced down at her friend, swallowing back a response, and looked back up at her grandfather. "So…do you _have_ a reverse spell yet?"

"No. And it will take a long time without the water." He said. Mercy bit her lip, and Papa laughed.

"April Fools', my little Smurfling!" He chuckled softly. "I have a spell, but it's been so long since I got it finished that it may take a while to find it in all that mess." Mercy sighed, relieved, and sprinted off to find the rest of her friends.

"What the Smurf?!" Nikki gave Slouchy a confused look, backing up a bit as Mercy sat down on her bunk. Slouchy patted at her nose, making funny sounds and giving her a worried look. It was like he knew what was going on but just-didn't know.

"What happened here?" Nat pointed to his brother, who kept making noises with his mouth.

Mercy handed him over to Nikki, who tries to give him back, and began to explain to her friends what had happened. As soon as Slouchy was out of Mercy's arms, though, he started to cry.

"Gee, was I like that?" Sorcerer gives the much smaller Smurfling a look, and backs up to stand away from him.

"Only about fifty years ago." Snappy-well-snapped. Mercy groaned, taking her friend back and sitting down in a chair to rock him. He quieted down almost instantly, sucking his thumb as Mercy hummed a tune that she could remember from forever ago.

"He really likes your singing." Nikki commented, just being herself again. She didn't like babies, even Slouchy-although he used to be the only Smurfling her age.

"He'd like yours if you gave it a shot. Remember the New Years' Party?" Mercy pointed out.

"I think someone put sarsparilla in my root beer-I'd never dare sing in front of the whole village unless I'd lost my mind." Nikki retorted. "Besides, I probably would lose in a contest against Harmony."

"Would not," Mercy went back to humming, eventually ending up putting both Slouchy and herself to sleep.

Later on, Mercy had managed to convince herself that this wasn't a dream. Her best friend had really been turned into a Baby Smurf-and it was really April Fools' Day.

"Mercy! Make him shut up!" Nikki yelled. Slouchy didn't seem to like any of the other Smurflings-or being away from Mercy. Every time she tried to get out of the Bunkhouse without him, he'd start in wailing and calling for her-or at least trying to.

"I try to pull a simple little prank to get him back, and I end up turning into his mother!" Mercy grumbled, skipping the steps up to the door and taking him from Nikki.

"You're not a very good Babysmurfer." She stated plainly.

"I'm not supposed to babysit! You are!" Mercy snapped. That was something she almost never did, but she was getting so agitated at the other Smurflings for not at least trying to help out that she knew she couldn't stand it much longer.

"You know what? You can keep him. Make him stop crying yourself." Mercy plopped him back into the crib, stomping off. "And don't come whinin' to me if there's a problem!"

"But-I-" Niiki was dumbfounded. Mercy hadn't ever acted this way towards children younger than her! "Mercy-" The brown-haired girl was gone, leaving both Nikki and Baby Slouchy staring at the door. He glanced up at her, beginning to whimper a little.

"Hey, don' look at me." Nikki started, but sighed and picked him back up to calm him down. She sat down in the rocking chair that Mercy had dragged out, and started to rock him, timidly humming an old tune. At first, the Smurfling was a bit startled, but he didn't start to cry. He didn't even whimper for Mercy. Instead, he cuddled up against Nikki and started sucking his thumb.

"Oh, golly. You just wanted a bit of attention, huh?" Nikki slowed the rocker to a stop, shifting ever so slightly and starting to sing.

_I can almost see it. That dream I'm dreamin' but_

_There's a voice inside my head sayin'_

"_You'll never reach it."_

_Every step I'm taking…Every move I make feels_

_Lost with no direction…My faith is shaking. But I_

_I gotta keep tryin'. Gotta keep my head held high!_

_There's always gonna be another mountain…_

_I'm always gonna wanna make it move._

_Always gonna be an uphill battle-and sometimes_

_I'm gonna have to lose. It ain't about how fast I get there,_

_It ain't about what's waitin' on the other side._

_It's the climb_.

* * *

I felt like writing a song. Blahh... This one stinks. If you read it, thank you for being patient enough.


	9. Easter

The sound of a bagpipe flooded through the village, the tapping of drums adding to the music a sense of pride. The Smurflings knew it wasn't a drum, though. It was Nikki's feet, faster than light on the ground, tapping along to the rhythm. She didn't seem to be the slightest bit winded, and almost didn't stop when the music did.

"Aye, lassie! You're quite the dancer!" Gutsy panted, shuffling the bagpipe off of his shoulder.

"But I'm not tired yet." She complained. She wanted to keep dancing-like her mother used to.

"Nope. I am."

"We need to record that bagpiping. Nikki's really good with the feet thing." Mercy commented. She was holding Slouchy, who had been turned into a baby only three days before.

"How? Prolimited technology, Mercy." Faith replied.

"Girls. Dancin' don't matter right now." Nikki stood between the sisters before any more could be said. "Tomorrow's Easter-and Grandpa promised I could show y'all something."

"Really? What?" Snappy was suddenly interested. He knew about the time crystals more than the others did-how powerful Nikki was with them.

"He said I could take you guys back about two thousand years. To the real Easter story. Just as long as we get Slouchy back to normal before we leave." She replied, tapping her feet some more for a few seconds to get the numbness out of them.

"Not a problem. Pappy found the formula just this morning." Sassette said. She called Papa Smurf "Pappy" so much that Nikki had called him that a few times without thinking.

"Great. I was hoping we wouldn't have to bring him along, though. He's a bit slower than the rest of us." Mercy gave Nikki a glare, and Slouchy grunted.

"What? It's the truth, and you know it."

"Alright. One Snappy is enough in this village." Gutsy interveined, taking Slouchy and giving both Smurfling girls a look.

The next morning, Nikki took her friends around the edge of the village to Grandpa's house, stopping to wait for Slouchy. Papa had doused him with the reverse formula the night before, and then had to split up a fight between him and Nikki.

"Would ya stop limpin'?!" Nikki whispered to him.

"I can't help it. It's the way I walk." Slouchy replied, faking a punch in her direction. Grandpa plucked her up by the shirt collar with his stick, letting Slouchy go past first, and giving her the same look Gutsy had the day before. Nikki gave a sheepish grin, chuckling a bit as he put her back down.

"And the magic should be about ready to work." Nikki skipped three or four steps at a time to get down underneath the house, and rammed into Snappy so hard that she knocked him over.

"Sorry." She mumbled.

"You're fine. I'm just smurfed up and ready to get out of here."

"Now remember-without Nikki, the four of you can't get back. Mercy and Faith are staying here with Sorcerer for presmurfinary measures." Grandpa reminded the boys and Sassette.

"Precautionary?" Sorcerer was puzzled. The biggest word he actually knew was "Gargamel."

"Never mind, Socie. Just stay safe," Sassette rumpled his hat, then told him something that only he could hear.

"You four better be ready to see the brutality of humankind. Men are nothing like Smurfs." Nikki warned her friends. "Nat, Sassette, you two stay in a team. Snappy, stick with Slouchy. I'll tell you where we meet when we get there. I'll have to stay behind the group to restore my energy."

She waved her hands, and in one sweep the old time crystals formed into a magical structure that exploded, a bright flash of light bright enough for a blind man to see, taking the five off to a different time zone. A new dimension was formed almost immediately, pulling them over two thousand years into the past.

"Ow-Hey!" Nikki grumbled. The five landed in a heap, piled on top of one another like banana leaves, and she was on the bottom.

"Get your smelly foot out of my face." Snappy shoved Nat off of his shoulders, and Sassette muttered something about being uncomfortable.

"Look over there!" Nat pointed to a crowd of humans, all of whom were yelling and throwing things at something in front of them.

"Rats. About fifteen minutes sooner would've made for you to get there." Nikki snapped her fingers together, and was almost as instantly left alone in the olive grove. "Looks like I still had some magic left." She said, dumbfounded.

The four found themselves at the top of the hill, and Nikki wasn't with them. Someone, however, _was_ there: the humans they had seen going up the hill.

"What are they doing?" One of the humans carried a long post, much bigger than him, struggling up the hill in front of the others.

"Hide," Nat pulled the others into a bush, where they watched in silence as the other humans yelled and formed a path around the one carrying the stick.

"I can't see!" Snappy hissed. Nat clapped a hand over his brother's mouth, motioning for him to be quiet. One human suddenly yelled out an insult that silenced every living being on the hill, and the one with the stick tumbled to his knees.

"If you truly are the Son of what they call God, make this stop now!" The man raised his arm, a long whip spiraling through the air above him. Sassette gasped, covering her eyes.

"_The brutality of humankind. Men are nothing like Smurfs."_ Nikki's voice rang in her ears.

"If this was what Easter was about, then humans have problems!" Snappy said. He couldn't take his eyes off the whip-and neither could the other boys.

"What did he do to them?" Nat wondered. Sassette suddenly toppled, falling to her knees and crying. Nat got down and put an arm over his sister's shoulder, whispering things to her that the other boys couldn't hear. They wouldn't have, anyways, concerning that they were mesmerized by the dozen or so guards with whips.

"Calm down, Sassette. They can't do anything to you-you're okay." Nat turned to look back just as the shadow of a guard fell over them, another whip sailing over his head. He subconsciously clutched tighter to his sister, not turning away but wishing he couldn't look.

"We've gotta get out of here-now." Slouchy grabbed Snappy's arm and rushed off, leaving Nat to pick Sassette up and chase after them.

"Ya didn't have to do that." She told him when they got to the bottom of the hill. She was still crying.

"It didn't look like you were gonna smurf-Slouchy's pretty fast when he's upset…" Nat didn't finish his sentence, noticing how close they were to the olive grove they had landed in-and the scared look on Sassette's face.

Nikki was asleep under one of the trees, the vast branches reaching down as if they were protecting her-The way Nat had his sister.

"Hey-wake up." Snappy nudged the girl with his foot, wiping his face. Sassette realized for the first time that the boys had started to cry, too. Even Nat had a few tears in his eyes.

Nikki jolted awake, flinging her arm out and catching Snappy under the jaw-she must have been startled and thought that he was a guard. But then again, she hadn't seen that. Had she?

"Oh my gosh! I'm-so sorry! I-" Nikki gasped, rubbing her hand across her friend's chin. The scrape from her nails disappeared, and Snappy, twitched his jaw as if it hadn't been hit at all.

"You saw the crucifiction, right?" She turned to Sassette and the other boys, and Sassette nodded.

"Poor guy. What did he do?" Her voice cracked, and she wiped another tear from her cheek.

"Nothing. They wanted to kill him and prove that he wasn't really the Christ-the son of God." Nikki explained. "They thought that if he was he could come back to life. Three days later, his body was gone from the tomb they put him in and he came to speak to his followers-disciples-one last time. People from our time don't believe this story, though."

"Why?" Nat asked, still gripping Sassette's hand.

"They say that's all it is. A story from over two thousand years ago. Some of them don't believe in the bible, either-the recordings of this time, times before, and about twenty or forty hundred years after. Can't remember exactly because the village doesn't have a church." Nikki scratched her neck, thinking hard. "Anyways, this wasn't the whole reason we celebrate Easter. Part of it is the three days after-his resurrection."

"Re-smur-what?!" Snappy shook his head, giving his friend a strange look.

"Resurrection. In other words, he came back to life" Nikki waved her hands around, gathering all of the time crystals and forming them into a shape-all but one. This one, she gave to Sassette.

"What-"

"Go ahead. Right there." Nikki coaxed, pointing to an empty spot on the formation. Sassette slowly reached out and settled the crystal delicately into its place.

* * *

I loved season 9, so...yay! Time Crystals! I don't do much for violence, though, so this one was harder to write...


	10. Mother's Day

_FWAPP!_ Something hit Faith in the side of the neck, and she sat up straight. Her sister and the others were in the middle of the Bunkhouse, pillow fighting, and Mercy had been knocked off into the floor.

"What is this?" Faith grumbled. "A war between the kids?"

"Boys versus girls." Nikki replied, grabbing a random cushion in her teeth and jerking her head to one side.

"Well, it looks as if you're short one. The boys are-" Faith grunted, pulling a blanket over the boys' faces to daze them. "Beating the Smurf out of you." Leaping off of her bunk from the top, she knocked Nat in the spine with a pillow, then pulled back to get Sorcerer.

"Nice comeback, li'l sis." Mercy got beside Faith, the four girls lining up around the boys.

"Oh, look. They're scared." Nikki teased. Slouchy, however, wasn't as surprised as the rest of the boys. He flung his pillow around with both hands until it slipped out of the case, hitting Sassette and Nikki in the face and sending them into two different bunks.

"Scratch that-they're still smurfing us." Nikki moaned, laying flat on her back.

"Who's scared now?" Snappy laughed. Nikki sat up slowly, eyeing her friend and then jumping to tackle him. In moments, all four boys were pinned, Sorcerer failing to struggle out of Sassette's grip.

"You are." Nikki stuck out her tongue, then let Snappy up.

"Yeah right. That was cheating-you smurfed yourself to smurf someone out of the game." Sorcerer wriggled out from under Sassette, pointing out that the rules were more important than winning.

"Rules, rules. You sound like Brainy." Nikki grumbled.

"He had a good teacher." Snappy agreed.

"Rude." Faith growled, standing between the three. "You're all rude."

"Me?!" Nikki squeaked.

"You woke me up, you're fighting over a silly game, and now you dare say you're _not_ rude?!" Faith replied, her voice pitching even higher than Nikki's.

"Well…he started it." Nikki said. Sorcerer gave her an evil look. "Besides, we were just getting warmed up. Dontcha know what t'day is?"

"Friday." Faith started to clean up the feathers all over the Bunkhouse floor.

"Mother's day!" Nikki snapped.

"Well, there ain't no mothers 'round here, Nik." Mercy replied.

"Exactly. There aren't any. So, we're gonna make some. Nanny is already technically a mother-to Papa Smurf-so that leaves Vexy and Smurfette." Nikki told them.

"I call Vexy. She's kind of a mother to me." Sorcerer said. "I'd already claimed her a long time before you three got here, anyways." He pointed out to the older girls.

"And we'll take Smurfette." Mercy put an arm around Faith's shoulder.

"Mind if I claim Vexy, too, Socie?" Nikki asked. The youngest Smurfling's eyes gleamed.

"If you can catch me before I get to their house!" Before she could reply, Sorcerer left Nikki blinking at the empty space where he had been.

"I don't have this scratch on my hand for nothin'!" Nikki called, haring after him. Snappy shook his head.

"I'll stick with Smurfette. If she's not surprised that all three of us wanna 'dopt 'er." He told the other girls. Sassette nodded in agreement.

"Make that four."

Nat and Slouchy glanced at each other and raced after the two speedsters, calling for Nikki to wait up.

"Well…uh-you really want that? I mean, what am I supposed to Smurf with three girls and a boy?" Smurfette had been slightly hesitant to consider, but the four eventually convince her just as quickly as Nikki, Nat, Slouchy and Sorcerer had Vexy.

"Smurf yeah. You know I was headed for that, Socie." Vexy ruffled Sorcerer's hat until it was flipped backwards. "All four of you."

The grown Smurfettes had a surprise in store for them. After the Smurflings had convinced all three to come to the centre square of the village, they managed to get enough Smurfs to kick in and turn the square into an outside ballroom with four tables. When Nanny saw it, she gasped. So did Papa, who had "escorted" his mother to the banquet. Smurfette squealed, and Vexy just stood there and stared.

"C'mon. Sit down. This is just for the three of you." Nikki announced. "Even though you've only been our mothers for a day, Smurfette, Vexy, you deserve to be here simply because you accepted our invitations of _being_ who you are. Nanny, you're here because of how you've tried your best to care for your son-Papa."

"And each of you can be yourself without being afraid," Mercy pointed out. "We love you for who you are, and who you've chosen to be. Whether that place is grandmother or newly adopted mother, you fit the mold perfectly."

"Because you don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent." Faith added.

"Well, my little Smurflings." Papa chuckled. "You must have been working on that speech for a while. I sure couldn't have smurfed it off the top of my head."

"Well, neither could I. But we did." Nikki replied

"Amazing. Simply amazing." Papa said. "But they are right, Nanny. You should be proud of what you've tried doing. Whether you succeeded or not."

"And we all know she has." Sassette added.

"Thank you, kids. All of you. At least now I feel like I'm not just a face in a crowd." Vexy told them.

"You never were to me." Sorcerer said.

* * *

Mehh...I got bored. And yes, Nikki has super speed...she's talking about the lightning bolt in that one part.


	11. Father's Day

"Hey. Nikki, wake up." Someone whispered into Nikki's ear, shaking her gently. She rolled over, groaning as she opened her eyes. Greedy was standing over her, a handful of cooking utensils latched to his shoulder.

"You up yet, youngun?" He asked, helping her sit up.

"Yeah, Greedy. I'm up. I'm up…" She dozed off again, leaning on his shoulder.

"C'mon. You're helpin' me make waffles, remember?" Greedy pushed her off his arm, and she jolted awake.

"Waffles?" Her eyes widened. "Mmm. I'm up."

"Smurflings." Greedy chuckled, following the redhead out of the Bunkhouse.

Later, after breakfast, Greedy had announced the real cook and had gotten a few contradictions. Nikki had disappeared, however, and Handy was nowhere in sight in the square.

"Careful. Don't Smurf it too hard, Nikki." Greedy jabbed his head into the workshop door to see his helper working on some strange contraction, Handy leaning over her to watch.

"Hey! You took my chef!" Greedy grumbled.

"She's my little mechanic, thank you!" Handy replied, and Nikki groaned.

"You guys, please. Don't fight over me. I've gotta go help Painter, anyways." She said, struggling out from under the workbench and sprinting off, the two Smurfs still arguing over who should be working with her.

"There you are, my little _protege`_." Painter stepped away from the stand he was at, letting the redhead look over it. She squinted a bit, then reached and took the paintbrush right out of Painter's hand.

"It just needs a bit of emphasis right about here…" She started fixing it, standing back and squinting again.

"_Sacre Bleu! Magnifique!_" Painter said, gasping when he saw the girl's corrections. He loved it.

"It's not that good." Nikki replied, turning violet.

"Not that good? It is the most beautiful thing I have ever Smurfed! Flawless!" Painter replied. Handy and Greedy both seemed to appear out of thin air then, both grabbing one of Nikki's arms. Pretty soon, all three Smurfs were squabbling, and Nikki was about to sneak away from the fight when Slouchy leaped at her from behind a tree. She thought that it was someone else, and started to fight back, all five stopping dead still at the shocked sound of Papa's voice.

"What is Smurfing on here?! What's this fighting all about?"

Handy sat up, shoving Greedy off of him and sending Painter into the side of the easel. All three grownups started jabbering at once, and Papa had to shout in order to stop them.

"They're fighting over me, Papa Smurf." Nikki admitted. "These four all want my help with something, and all this attention is driving me Smurfy."

"I don't want anything." Slouchy cut in.

"Slouchy?! I thought you were Vanity!" Nikki squinted at her friend.

"What? How do I look like Vanity?" Slouchy glared back.

"Never mind that. Fighting is no way to settle the matter. And stop that squinting!" Papa addressed all of them at once, and Nikki sat down on the ground.

"But I have to. I can't see well." She complained.

"Today's Father's day according to Mercy. You could fix the problem that way." Slouchy told the redhead after the five had been split up.

"And do what? Claim one of them as my Dad? Technically-" Nikki started.

"Forget technical. Smurf it, Nikki! You 'dopt one of the guys, the problem is solved." Slouchy snapped, cutting her short. His brown eyes flashed angrily. "I know Grouchy would be your dad if we looked at the 'Technical' matter, but that's only 'cause Vexy's your 'dopted Mom. You never claimed Grouchy."

"True. I could just adopt Handy and end the problem. Or Greedy-he seems to love my cooking…then again, Painter's face this morning was Smurfless…" Nikki twisted a piece of her hair around her finger, black and red streaks mixing into a swirl.

"All three of them?" Slouchy groaned. "You've gotta pick. How 'bout Vanity?"

"Yecch!" Nikki stuck out her tongue. "What kind of Dad would that be?"

"True."

"I've got it. A contest. Keep the guys from fighting, but secretly be watching for that fatherlike pride." Nikki snapped her fingers, then sprinted off, leaving Slouchy blinking at her back. He stifled a laugh as she rammed into the side of a house.

"Oh-sorry 'bout that." Nikki muttered.

Later, she had arranged for all three to bring their best work-with Nikki's help involved at some point-to be looked over, tallying the points of other Smurfs' favourites.

"The three-er-craftiest Smurfs in the village should have enough brains to not fight over this." Nikki sat on the top of the well, scribbling down tallies. "Uh-Slouchy, could you read these? I can't tell if that's an H or a P."

"Oh, boy. All the work you've been doing has made your eyes weak." He griped, taking the board and rewriting the points.

"It's a tie between the cupcakes and the recliner. Only one Smurf hasn't voted and that's-" Slouchy blinked up at her. "You."

"Wha-? I'm not voting." Nikki puffed up, turning away from the Smurfling.

"It's either you or Papa, and he's busy in the lab."

"Well, I'm not doing it."

"It's your contest." He reminded her. She didn't turn to look at him. Instead, she leaped off the well and landed on her feet in the middle of a crowd by Painter's easel. Almost on her feet. Slouchy winced as she fell forwards right into a couple of paint buckets.

"Nikki, could you come with me for a second?" Papa helped her stand up, leading her to the lab. Slouchy heard him telling her that she wasn't in trouble, and slowly followed them, listening in on their conversation.

"What about the other kids?" Nikki was asking.

"I talked it over with the other girls, and with Nat and Snappy. Slouchy's been with you all day…"

"Uh-oh." Slouchy ducked as Papa glanced at the window, then started talking again.

"I know you don't want to be teased, but that is an obstacle that you can Smurf with some help. I've noticed how much you've been squinting, and I'm worried about you."

"I'm not that bad off. I can at least see at all thanks to the bracelet."

"But your eyesight is getting worse." Papa placed something over Nikki's eyes, and she shook her head, blinking.

"You still wear red?" She looked slightly shocked.

"Yes, I do." Papa chuckled.

"Wow. I can actually see the pictures on your walls. And the fireplace, and-Slouchy?!" Dead still, Slouchy stared at his friend. She was wearing glasses.

"Hi." He croaked. "Nice glasses?"

"I don't really think so. I look like Brainy." Nikki grumbled, taking them off. Almost immediately, she put them back on, blinked a couple of times, and shook her head again.

"No. You look like Nikki. I made your glasses more oval so that you could smurf your vision in one area-the best place to see what you're smurfing."

"Thank you, Papa." Nikki hugged him, then ran out the lab door to meet Slouchy and get back to the contest.

"Now, about that final vote. I hate deciding between the three of them-they're all talented-but there's only one way to end this feud!" Nikki told Slouchy to go rest, then started critiquing the three adults. "The winner to this contest will get final say in my work-even though I'll manage to help all three of you in my own time."

It took her five minutes to decide between the automatic recliner and the "secret ingredient" cupcakes, but eventually picked the recliner. She didn't choose it because it was comfortable, though. It malfunctioned, and didn't pop up until she jerked the handle and got catapulted into the well-fifty smurfsteps away.

"That was fun!" She laughed, shaking her head furiously to get all the water out of her hair.

"Are you hurt?" Handy had rushed over to her.

"Nah. Let's do it again." Nikki pushed her glasses up and laughed again.

"So-is that still a vote for that?" Slouchy asked.

"Are you _smurfing kidding_ me?! Yes!" Nikki squealed. "Perfect catapult."

"And the winner is…Handy by a point." Slouchy called out.

"And I'm not afraid to admit it. You three remember, though. I can still help Painter and Greedy when they _desperately_ need help." Nikki promised.

"Wait just a second. What about those glasses?" Brainy gave the other three grownups a look, leading Nikki off.

"With those glasses, it proves that you also can become a very intelligent Smurfling. Not that you aren't already. Why pick one of them when you can have a really special father? One like me." He told her. She growled under her breath, and in about a second, Brainy was pelted out of the village so hard that he landed in the river.

"So much for a father-daughter relationship." He groaned.


End file.
